TROCHILnLE. — CLXII. 271 



uniform purplish, its feathers narrow ; 9 without red, the tail 

 variegated; no scales on crown. L. 3\. W. If. T. 1\. B. §. 

 E. N. Am. ; abundant in summer, hovering about flowers. (S. Am. 

 name, Colibri.") 



Order XLVI. PASSERES. (The Passerine Birds.) 



Toes always 4 ; feet fitted for perching ; the hind toe always on 

 the level of the rest, its claw at least as long as that of the mid- 

 dle toe ; joints of toes 2, 3, 4, 5, respectively, from first to fourth ; 

 none of the toes versatile, and none webbed ; wing coverts few, 

 chiefly in two series; tail feathers 12; primaries 10, but in most 

 of the families the first one is reduced in size, and often rudimen- 

 tary and displaced; musical apparatus more or less developed; 

 sternum of a uniform passerine pattern ; palate segithognathous. 

 Nature altricial. 



This order includes about 6000 known species, or more than half 

 of all the kinds of birds. They represent the "highest grade of 

 development and the most complex organization of the class ; their 

 high physical irritability is co-ordinate with the rapidity of their 

 respiration and circulation ; they consume the most oxygen and 

 live the fastest of all birds." (Coues) 



A considerable number of anatomical characters (for which see 

 Stejneger, " Standard Natural History," p. 458, et ,vy.). are more 

 or less perfectly distinctive of the Passeres. These cannot, how- 

 ever, be discussed here. The group is divided, on anatomical charac- 

 ters, into about 5 suborders. Two of these groups, the Clamatores 

 and the Oscines, are represented in our fauna. The latter, charac- 

 terized especially by the perfect musical apparatus comprises the 

 vast majority of the Passeres. (Lat., passer, sparrow, i 



Families of Passeres. 



a. Tarsus with its hinder edge rounded ; encircled by a single horny envelope 

 divided into seutella anteriorly and on outer side, this sometimes ex- 

 tending all round (though separated by a seam along inner side_), but 

 often widely separated on inner side or behind or both, the intervening 

 space occupied by granular scales, reticulations, or plain naked skin; 

 musical apparatus imperfect; primaries 10, the first about as long as 

 second. (Clamatores.) 

 b. Inner toe free at base from middle toe; tarsus not reticulate behind; 

 bill hooked at tip, with long rictal bristles. . . . TvRANXiDiE, 1G3. 

 aa. Tarsus with its hinder edge compressed, forming a sharp, nearly undi- 

 vided ridge (except in the Larks, which may be known by the long, 

 nearly straight hind claw); musical apparatus highly developed; pri- 

 maries properly ten, but the first short, or spurious, or sometimes rudi- 

 mentary and misplaced, so that but nine are evident, in which case the 

 first developed primary is about as long as second. ( Oscines.) 



